Sunday, 30 October 2011
Friday, 30 September 2011
Meteor Crater Field Camp
The last day of the field camp is nearly up on. For the last week I have been camping at the Meteor Crater RV park in Arizona, as part of the Lunar and Planetary Institute's annual field camp. The purpose of the field camp is to give students working in the area of impact cratering a chance to do fieldwork at a crater, and for them to contribute towards a research project.
The crater is pretty amazing. Because it is so young, it is unconsolidated and fragile, but great care has been taken by the Barringer family to preserve this valuable geological feature.
Since arriving in Arizona I have also visited the Grand Canyon. I'm still in shock from that. Simply, wow.
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Blogging from my intelligent phone
The smart phone finally found me. There are a few niggly annoying things about it (like the touch screen keyboard ffs) but i can see its uses. I can read journal papers on it, and I found a Dropbox app, which is useful. I can carry my work with me wherever I go.
Shame that all that intelligence guzzles the battery like there is no tomorrow.
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
The Boltysh Meteorite Impact Project
This is the website for the research group working on the Boltysh crater. Check it out.
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/boltysh/
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/boltysh/
Monday, 6 June 2011
Crushing rocks is hard work...
...even when you get a jaw crusher to do it for you! 35 rocks in 3 hours, and I'm ready for bed.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Monday, 23 May 2011
I hate moving house
I am moving house soon. Boo!
I have already changed my address with New Scientist, as they say to do it 4 weeks in advance. But the New Scientist this week has not been delivered. It usually comes on Fridays. I can only assume it has been delivered to my new address. I'd go round and check, but the current tenants work night shifts, and I don't think they'd appreciate their sleep being disturbed just so I have something to read. True, I can always read the articles online, but it's just not the same is it? Everyone loves mail, right? It's exciting! Well, it's exciting when you get a steady flow of mail, like a couple of things every few days. It's not so fun when you have a big pile of mail to sort through when you arrive at your new house with all of your furniture and possessions in tow.
Sigh.
Only 11 days to go.
I have already changed my address with New Scientist, as they say to do it 4 weeks in advance. But the New Scientist this week has not been delivered. It usually comes on Fridays. I can only assume it has been delivered to my new address. I'd go round and check, but the current tenants work night shifts, and I don't think they'd appreciate their sleep being disturbed just so I have something to read. True, I can always read the articles online, but it's just not the same is it? Everyone loves mail, right? It's exciting! Well, it's exciting when you get a steady flow of mail, like a couple of things every few days. It's not so fun when you have a big pile of mail to sort through when you arrive at your new house with all of your furniture and possessions in tow.
Sigh.
Only 11 days to go.
Hello Icelandic ash cloud. Long time no see.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13489944
At least this one has a more pronounceable name! And an excellent one at that. Grimsvotn!
At least this one has a more pronounceable name! And an excellent one at that. Grimsvotn!
Monday, 16 May 2011
The last launch of Endeavour
Today, at around 13 56 BST, the space shuttle Endeavour took off from Kennedy Space Centre for its final journey. It is due to join the International Space Centre on Wednesday.
A couple of my colleagues and I watched the launch online on NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html.
I've actually watched a space shuttle launch from the Kennedy Space Centre. It was the space shuttle Discovery, on 7th August 1997. From where we were standing, all we could really see was the column of burning fuel, but the sound was incredible. Below is a YouTube video of the launch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulnSe8vwglc
Shuttle launches are often described as "routine", but they're far from it. Every time I watch one, as well as experiencing excitement and awe and a little anxiety, I also feel reather a lot of envy. What I wouldn't give to be on the shuttle right now!
A couple of my colleagues and I watched the launch online on NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html.
I've actually watched a space shuttle launch from the Kennedy Space Centre. It was the space shuttle Discovery, on 7th August 1997. From where we were standing, all we could really see was the column of burning fuel, but the sound was incredible. Below is a YouTube video of the launch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulnSe8vwglc
Shuttle launches are often described as "routine", but they're far from it. Every time I watch one, as well as experiencing excitement and awe and a little anxiety, I also feel reather a lot of envy. What I wouldn't give to be on the shuttle right now!
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Mind-boggling microbes
I love the scale of things.
I mean, look at all of the HUGE things we can observe (planets, stars, galaxies) and then look at all the tiny things we can observe (clay minerals, bacteria, viruses) and then think of the difference in size between these things. It's truly staggering.
To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it until I saw this really fun demonstration. Take a look!
http://www.scaleoftheuniverse.com/
But ever since seeing that, the scale thing keeps popping up. For example, in my research I am looking at a rock which is becoming really difficult to classify, basically because it is such a jumbled mess of different components (it was hit by a giant meteorite, after all). Looking at this rock in hand specimen, at first glance it appears that this rock could quite simply be called a "suevite"- an impact-melt bearing breccia with a clastic matrix. However, when you look at the rock in thin sections, a different picture emerges; the matrix is mainly composed of partially recrystallised melt. And there is so much variation between the rocks over just a few metres. I wonder what will be revealed when I look at them using scanning electron microscopy! So scale is very important in this instance.
I've just been reading this weeks New Scientist. There is an article called "I am Legion", by Claire Ainsworth, talking about the importance of the microbial ecosystem that lives in the gut of humans, and how disturbances in this ecosystem can result in various diseases such as Crohn's and Diabetes. The author suggests that these conditions should be viewed as an ecological disturbance in our internal ecosystems, caused by our modern lifestyles, and that all of the germs that we fight so hard to destroy with our spray hand sanitizers are not our enemies at all; the majority of them work to maintain our health.
This is awesome- the human body contains one trillion microbes, and these outnumber our own cells by 10 to 1. We are mainly microbe! I can't help thinking about this when I clean the house or wash my hands.
So we have another ecosystem to conserve here-our internal one. See, the scale thing again!
I mean, look at all of the HUGE things we can observe (planets, stars, galaxies) and then look at all the tiny things we can observe (clay minerals, bacteria, viruses) and then think of the difference in size between these things. It's truly staggering.
To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it until I saw this really fun demonstration. Take a look!
http://www.scaleoftheuniverse.com/
But ever since seeing that, the scale thing keeps popping up. For example, in my research I am looking at a rock which is becoming really difficult to classify, basically because it is such a jumbled mess of different components (it was hit by a giant meteorite, after all). Looking at this rock in hand specimen, at first glance it appears that this rock could quite simply be called a "suevite"- an impact-melt bearing breccia with a clastic matrix. However, when you look at the rock in thin sections, a different picture emerges; the matrix is mainly composed of partially recrystallised melt. And there is so much variation between the rocks over just a few metres. I wonder what will be revealed when I look at them using scanning electron microscopy! So scale is very important in this instance.
I've just been reading this weeks New Scientist. There is an article called "I am Legion", by Claire Ainsworth, talking about the importance of the microbial ecosystem that lives in the gut of humans, and how disturbances in this ecosystem can result in various diseases such as Crohn's and Diabetes. The author suggests that these conditions should be viewed as an ecological disturbance in our internal ecosystems, caused by our modern lifestyles, and that all of the germs that we fight so hard to destroy with our spray hand sanitizers are not our enemies at all; the majority of them work to maintain our health.
This is awesome- the human body contains one trillion microbes, and these outnumber our own cells by 10 to 1. We are mainly microbe! I can't help thinking about this when I clean the house or wash my hands.
So we have another ecosystem to conserve here-our internal one. See, the scale thing again!
Friday, 6 May 2011
Gypsum in Jellyfish!
So it's Friday. The day that New Scientist is delivered to my house.
I've only had a quick flick through tonight, but have just read a really interesting article about the box jellyfish.
Box jellyfish have two dozen eyes, and scientists at Lund University in Sweden have discovered that crystals of gypsum are buried in structures surrounding the eyes, and that the weight of the crystals helps the jellyfish to orientate itself to look upwards. That's pretty fascinating. I love discoveries like this that highlight just how closely rocks and life are related; how life took advantage of the materials on Earth to perform certain functions. Crystals of gypsum in jellyfish eyes! That's amazing! It's a similar type of relationship seen in bacteria that contain magnetite-filled organelles (magnetosomes). The magnetite crystals allow the bacteria to align itself with the Earth's magnetic field.
I've only had a quick flick through tonight, but have just read a really interesting article about the box jellyfish.
Box jellyfish have two dozen eyes, and scientists at Lund University in Sweden have discovered that crystals of gypsum are buried in structures surrounding the eyes, and that the weight of the crystals helps the jellyfish to orientate itself to look upwards. That's pretty fascinating. I love discoveries like this that highlight just how closely rocks and life are related; how life took advantage of the materials on Earth to perform certain functions. Crystals of gypsum in jellyfish eyes! That's amazing! It's a similar type of relationship seen in bacteria that contain magnetite-filled organelles (magnetosomes). The magnetite crystals allow the bacteria to align itself with the Earth's magnetic field.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
The Cambrian Explosion- evolutionary radiation due to an impact?
If evidence that microbial life existed on the Earth 3.8 billion years ago is correct, then it really is intriguing that between then and ~530 million years ago, there is no fossil evidence for anything other than the simplest multicellular life. And then BOOM! Complex multicellular life. Just like that. Trilobites, echinoderms, all of the "small shelly fauna", and of course my favourite, Anomalocaris (or "anomalous shrimp) all appear in the fossil record. This suggests that life diversified incredibly quickly to establish most of the major phyla. But how and why did the change from "simple" to "complex" occur so suddenly? And why did it take over 3 billion years for this transition? Could this rapid radiation have been a result of an impact?
Through the geological record we see evidence of mass extinctions that have wiped out up to 90% of all marine species, only to be followed by new radiations of species that before were struggling to outcompete their rivals.
I am only sure of one thing. I want an anomalous shrimp (above).
Through the geological record we see evidence of mass extinctions that have wiped out up to 90% of all marine species, only to be followed by new radiations of species that before were struggling to outcompete their rivals.
I am only sure of one thing. I want an anomalous shrimp (above).
How to survive a hypervelocity impact of the Earth by an asteroid the size of the Isle of Wight
"Perhaps the best strategy for surviving such an impact is to go into orbit"
Zahnle and Sleep, 2006.
Made me chuckle.
Zahnle and Sleep, 2006.
Made me chuckle.
Monday, 2 May 2011
Um...yay?
Now, most of my friends know that I do not like butterflies. Actually, they scare me.
BUT this is...definitely...good...news.
Wow, that was hard. Hooray for butterflies!
Good start...
So I picked up this weeks copy of New Scientist today, and the first page I turned to had a huge picture of a peppered moth on it. Brilliant.
The article is called Unnatural Selection, written by Michael Le Page. It talks about many examples of how the activities of humans have resulted in physiological changes in many species. An obvious example is the peppered moth, which has a black form and a cream-coloured form. During the Industrial Revolution in Britain, the cream-coloured moth changed to black to remain camouflaged on the soot stained trees on which they lived. Any cream-coloured moths would be easily spotted by predators against the black trees, whereas moths that had genetic mutations that resulted in some black colouration on their wings would be less easy to see, and so would live to pass on their genetic mutations to their offspring. Et voila, black moths prevailed in these areas.
Another really neat example is the size of elephant tusks. A paper in the African Journal of Ecology (vol 33, p. 230) revealed that the number of tuskless female elephants in eastern Zambia rose to nearly 40% between 1969 and 1989. This is believed to be a result of poaching. Elephants are evolving before our eyes to develop smaller tusks in response to poachers hunting them for the biggest and best tusks they can find. Another example is the caribou, whose average size appears to be shrinking in some areas. A similar effect is being seen in plants also; their average size is decreasing.
This has led to the idea of "compensatory culling"- killing animals with undesirable traits e.g. killing deer with smaller antlers to prevent a decrease in antler size. This is being done in some countries already.
It's just incredible to see how we have affected the evolution of some species, and we now have such understanding of it that we can reverse these adverse affects.
The article is called Unnatural Selection, written by Michael Le Page. It talks about many examples of how the activities of humans have resulted in physiological changes in many species. An obvious example is the peppered moth, which has a black form and a cream-coloured form. During the Industrial Revolution in Britain, the cream-coloured moth changed to black to remain camouflaged on the soot stained trees on which they lived. Any cream-coloured moths would be easily spotted by predators against the black trees, whereas moths that had genetic mutations that resulted in some black colouration on their wings would be less easy to see, and so would live to pass on their genetic mutations to their offspring. Et voila, black moths prevailed in these areas.
Another really neat example is the size of elephant tusks. A paper in the African Journal of Ecology (vol 33, p. 230) revealed that the number of tuskless female elephants in eastern Zambia rose to nearly 40% between 1969 and 1989. This is believed to be a result of poaching. Elephants are evolving before our eyes to develop smaller tusks in response to poachers hunting them for the biggest and best tusks they can find. Another example is the caribou, whose average size appears to be shrinking in some areas. A similar effect is being seen in plants also; their average size is decreasing.
This has led to the idea of "compensatory culling"- killing animals with undesirable traits e.g. killing deer with smaller antlers to prevent a decrease in antler size. This is being done in some countries already.
It's just incredible to see how we have affected the evolution of some species, and we now have such understanding of it that we can reverse these adverse affects.
My First Blog!
I've been thinking about starting a blog for a long time, but whenever I'd attempt to write something, I realised a) I didn't really know what I wanted to write about, and b) I was scared of what people might think of my ramblings.
Well today, I decided that I need to keep a regular journal of sciency things that I read, because my memory recall is so poor, I can never remember where I read something, and what it was about- just a vague recollection that what I read was either in New Scientist or on the BBC News website, and that it was really interesting.
But instead of buying a notebook and writing everything down in that (to add to my collection of notebooks that is already overflowing from my bookshelf) I decided to start a blog instead. This way, I can write about anything new in science that I find interesting and useful, and share it with anyone who wants to read this.
And as for worrying about what people might think....well, life's too short, isn't it?
Well today, I decided that I need to keep a regular journal of sciency things that I read, because my memory recall is so poor, I can never remember where I read something, and what it was about- just a vague recollection that what I read was either in New Scientist or on the BBC News website, and that it was really interesting.
But instead of buying a notebook and writing everything down in that (to add to my collection of notebooks that is already overflowing from my bookshelf) I decided to start a blog instead. This way, I can write about anything new in science that I find interesting and useful, and share it with anyone who wants to read this.
And as for worrying about what people might think....well, life's too short, isn't it?
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